Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I Shall be Released and Richard Manuel

I have been overwhelmed by the response to my last post on Richard Manuel. Evidently, there are a lot of music fans who have the same strong feelings for The Band and the singing of Richard Manuel that I do.

Enjoy this clip from the movie of the Festival Express tour. It was a 1970 train tour across Canada that included The Band, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and others. The film is available from Amazon and is worth checking out.

Richard's singing on this song is really beautiful. It is nice to hear him in his prime.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for this post!As a native of Winnipeg,I attended this very show at the ripe old age of 14,and long story short:it changed my life!Cheers.Ernie B

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  2. Love it man! They were so cool with beards :)

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  3. .. WE LOVE RICHARD MANUEL, Thanks for you great post! Emanuele from Venice, Italy. Please see video with our song tribute to The Band on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RKkLGR8pBA

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  4. Thanks for the post. I saw Richard and Rick Danko many times at The Lone Star Cafe in the 1980's. Seeing the two of them perform songs such as "It makes No Difference", "Stage fright", and many other Band songs in such an intimate venue was a privilege I will never forget. One night Rick played "My Love" by Lionel Richie, and the harmonies were "like butta". As Dylan said, in I'll Remember You:
    "There's some people that, You don't forget, even though you only seen'em one time or two."

    Some lives shine brighter than others in their own way and for the contribution they made to others. These two lives were up there with the brightest stars in the sky.

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  5. Thanks from me too ... Richard Manuel was an original and sadly lost to our ears now. He knew how to sing the blues ... it may interest some that Big 0 Worldwide has a wonderful free download of Richard playing solo. Worth investigating ... cheers

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  6. Both posts -- very well done! Richard was one of the greatest singers, wasn't he?

    Question: I thought I'd heard/read somewhere that a documentary film (or a book?) was in the works about Richard; by I think a Canadian musicologist, perhaps?

    Is my alleged mind playing tricks on me or has anyone else come upon this?

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  7. Have you read Levon's book, "This Wheel's On Fire"? He says that Robertson could't sing so his mike was always turned off. Manual, Helm, and Danko did all the singing.

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  8. Robbie did sing on one song on Music From Big Pink, but that was it for his vocals. His singing? on the solo albums really held him back in my opinion.

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